Trip to Ventura Harbor

A lot has happened in the last couple days! We have been soooo busy, we haven't had time to do much else than work on the boat. We received a phone call Thursday from the boatyard asking us if it was OK if we waited to haul the boat until Monday. The yard is full and they had 2 boats coming out of the water on Monday and it would work best for them. We said OK, that gave us one more day in the slip!! The previous days we spent preparing the boat for moving - tying everything down, making sure everything was secure. There was a weather front moving our way and the weatherman said to expect RAIN on Sunday & Monday - oh just lovely!! So we decided to move from Channel Islands to Ventura on Saturday. Saturday came and it seemed a little windy, but we left the harbor at approx 9:30. It was almost sad leaving the dock and knowing we wouldn't be 'parking' there any more. We were hollered at by a few good friends as we were leaving the harbor, which is always a special treat. Once we got to the breakwater, the winds showed up. We left Channel Islands Harbor and the winds were 20-25 knots and the seas were pretty big - 8-10ft swells and very mixed. We were bounced around pretty good. Everything that we thought would do OK left alone, didn't. Casey wasn't sitting down properly below and tried performing the cat-like move of placing all 4 paws out to steady himself. It was a sight. So, Rene got to go below and anchor the things down that were getting tossed, and get Casey settled down. Casey had already had a bad morning as he had gone swimming by accident first thing. We were walking down the docks and he has this move when he runs out of leash, he does a pirouette, waits for a moment and then takes off again. He's always done this with no problem. Well, this morning instead of a 360 degree pirouette, he only did a 90 degree one. And then he took off walking off the dock. So he was wet, grumpy, and now he's getting tossed around in the boat, he was definately not happy. But after a few minutes of getting him comfortable, he rode the rest of the ride out with no problem. We were lucky - nothing broke, and by the time we got into Ventura Harbor, the winds had calmed down to 10, and the seas were much calmer. We tied up at Anchor's Way Boatyard and spend the rest of the day tinkering.

That night, we went to dinner at our friend's Jeanne & George Mitchell. We had a scrumptious dinner and wonderful company with one other couple. I had expressed to Jeanne how difficult it was going without a car for these last couple weeks, so when we left, they let us borrow one of their vehicles. Woohoo! What a difference it makes having wheels! We're thrilled, and very grateful for the loan.

Will write more later....Rene & Michael